Second Chances
by iwomans-sister
Summary: The room was silent for a moment, but only a single moment. Then a high pitched yell filled the air. "We have a survivor in here!" *Sequel to Second Nature*


Title: Second Chances

Author: iwomans_sister

Email: Naomi@secret-agent.com

Disclaimer: I don't own the characters from The Invisible Man', I just borrow em for fun and try to return them without the medical bills in a tall pile. Please don't sue, I'm still trying to pay the doctors for the operation on Darien last week. Hey, it's not my fault he got shot... Umm, wait, maybe it is.

Spoilers: None that I know of. 

Genre: Angst

Rating: PG-13

Author's Note: Here is the sequel to "Second Nature". Hope you all like it. Sorry it took so long, I have way too many plot bunnies cuz liz_Z gave me a bag of carrots. Also, I only know about medicine what my mom tells me, and this is just fiction, so if it's wrong, sue me. ;)

*I have the best Beta Reader in the world, and I felt the need to say it. Thanks liz_Z!*

~*~

Outside sirens could be heard all around, the scene was repulsive. Inside the once beautiful home, paramedic's and police officers tried to save the lives of a tragedy that had claimed three victims. No one knew what had happened, they only knew all three had been shot. One in the chest, one in the abdomen and the other in the head.

The room was silent for a moment, but only a single moment. Then a high pitched yell filled the air. "We have a survivor in here!"

A paramedic rushed up the stairs into the dreary bedroom, where the smell of death and blood was thick in the air. "How could anyone survive this?" The younger paramedic asked.

"A miracle."

The two young men placed the body on a backboard and headed down the stairs to their bus. "Pulse is weak... I don't think this one will make it either."

The older paramedic got in the back, while the younger got in the front of the ambulance and started to drive. More paramedics were left at the scene to take care of the other two victims. They too were leaving; in body bags.

~*~

"I just got the call." Alex Monroe said, storming into the hospital's emergency entrance.

The Official gave her a grim look. "Police Officers from the scene called it in, they checked Claire's wallet and found her ID."

Alex nodded. "Do we know anything yet?"

"No." Eberts replied with a frown. "We only know what the Official got a phone call, as he already told you."

"Okay," Alex said, starting to pace back and forth. She stopped and looked up to meet both men's eyes. "Where are Hobbes and Fawkes? I would have figured they'd be here by now."

"I was wondering the same thing." The Official replied. "I paged them both, but neither answered their pages."

Alex started her pacing again, hoping for the best, but her gut was telling her something was seriously wrong, and it involved the two missing agents. When she stopped to turn around again she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up and met Eberts' gaze. He nodded toward a man standing in the corner with a navy blue uniform on.

"Officer Mylar." The man said with a slight Irish accent. "Are you the people from Fish and Game?"

The Official nodded, extending his hand. "Charlie Borden. The woman you brought in works for me."

Mylar nodded, "We tried to contact her family, but the computer says she has no close relatives."

The Official nodded. "She has a father, but he is in England and she hasn't heard from him in quite a few years."

Both Alex and Eberts looked shocked at that comment, but refrained from saying anything. 

Mylar continued. "Do you know his name or how I can reach him?"

"I'm afraid I don't know how to reach him, but his name is Brian Fysher. He is a scientist."

Mylar nodded as he wrote down what the Official had said, then he asked. "I didn't see a wedding ring on Miss Keeply's finger, but she has a different name then her father. Was she at one point married?"

"No." The Official replied. "After moving to the United States she changed her name."

Officer Mylar nodded. "The Detectives will be by later to fill you in on the details."

"You're not going to?" Alex asked.

"No, ma'am. I'm afraid I don't know very much. By the time I got to the scene of the crime Miss Keeply had already been moved and the other two were being taken out in body bags."

"Other two?" Alex asked.

"You weren't told?" Mylar asked.

"No, you're the first person to talk to us." Alex replied, already starting to feel sick.

Mylar looked down at his note book, "Robert A. Hobbes and Darien G. Fawkes. Their family's have already been contacted and are on the way to identify and claim the bodies."

"How did it happen?" Alex asked, tears threatening to fall. 

"Like I said, ma'am, I don't really know much of the details. From what the paramedic's said it looks like Mr. Fawkes was shot in the chest and help didn't make it in time so he bled out."

"What about Mr. Hobbes?"

"Single gun shot wound to the head. It looks self inflected. We'll know more later."

Alex nodded and the Officer took off down the hall. Alex settled into one of the guest room chair's, waiting for the detectives or the doctor to come by. Darien and Hobbes were dead. So far no one had said anything. Two of the Agency's best dead, and she had no idea how Claire was doing. The three continued to sit in silence and Alex let her eyes close. She was beginning to get a headache.

~*~

Alex opened her eyes due to someone saying her name. It was Eberts again. "What?" she asked, her tiredness showing from the mission she had been on the night before.

"The doctor's here." He replied in a crisp tone.

Alex stood up to greet the young doctor and extended her hand. "Alex Monroe."

"Audra Thomas." The Doctor replied. She looked to be in her early thirties and her black hair was pulled back in a tight ponytail. Her deep brown eyes made her seem more compassionate and her nut brown skin added to the radiance of her eyes. 

"Do you have news about Claire?" Eberts piped up.

"Yes. And it is quite good news." She replied. "Are you Mr. Borden, her boss?"

"Me? Oh, no. He went to make a phone call. He should be back any minute."

"Okay," Audra replied. "Do you mind if I wait until he gets here so I only have to say this once?"

"No, not at all."

They only had to wait a few minutes, the Official came walking down the hall, and when he saw the doctor he had a worried expression on his face. Audra asked him to take a seat, then she started to tell them about Claire.

"When Miss Keeply was rushed into the ER she was flat-lining. We got a sinus rhythm, and as soon as she was stable we sent her up to the OR for surgery. She is doing well, all things considered. She was shot in the abdomen, and is lucky to still be alive. She would have most likely been dead, but she had put enough pressure on the wound and gotten the bleeding under control.

"As far as I know, when the paramedic's got to the scene she was barely breathing, and at first they thought she was dead. I guess she's lucky help got there in time."

The Official nodded. "Thank you."

"No problem. Someone will come find you when she is out of the OR and tell you how the surgery went."

~*~

Alex stood in the hall pacing back and forth; the styrofoam cup that contained liquid caffeine had long ago become cold. She was in shock and disbelief at the same time. The detectives on the case had already come and gone, not telling the three much more then they already knew. Apparently Claire was the only one with answers. 

The surgeon who had worked on Claire had stopped by too, telling the three to go home. He had said that Claire would be unconscious until the morning. Alex had decided to stay and wait until Claire woke up, promising Eberts and the Official that as soon as something changed she'd call.

But Alex was still in far too much shock for anything to make sense. She had gone down to the morgue with Vivian to ID Hobbes' body. It hadn't been a pretty sight, but one of the corners had cleaned up the mess that was Hobbes' face. The single gun shot wound to his right temple had left an ugly purple bruise.

There were also other bruises that she had noticed; it looked like he had been in a fight. And when she went to see Darien's body, she noticed the same thing. But she couldn't figure out why the two would have been fighting, or why for that matter had they been at Claire home. But there was something else. She had no idea why she had done it, but she had checked Darien's eye... And what she had seen had scared her, and at the same time given her some kind of understanding as to what went on there.

"Miss Monroe?"

Alex turned around and saw a nurse she had come to know as Ariane standing next to her. "Yes?"

"She's awake now, if you want to go see her."

Alex didn't even wait for the Ariane to say anything more. She just took off down the hall and headed toward the ICU. When she got there she had to wait in the ICU waiting room until the phone rang and she was told she could go in. Claire was in room 5 and apparently coherent.

"Claire?" Alex said entering the room.

Claire looked up and gave a weak smile. "Hey," She said.

"Hey yourself. You don't look so bad." Alex said, noticing the IV running from Claire's wrist.

"Yeah, it's not as bad as it could be." Claire replied. "I'm just blessed I guess." Suddenly her expression turned sad and she looked at her friend. "Alex, they wouldn't tell me, how are Bobby and Darien?"

Alex pulled up and chair and sat next to Claire's bed, stalling as long as she could. But she had a feeling Claire already knew the answer. "They're both dead." Claire nodded her head, the sadness deepening. "What happened, Claire?"

"You don't know?"

"No one does. You're the only one who has an idea on what happened."

Claire paused for a second, wondering what to say. "I don't remember." She answered.

Alex interlaced her fingers a few times, then set her hands back on her lap. "Are you telling me the truth, or are you trying to protect someone?"

"Does it really matter?"

Alex shook her head, then looked back at her friend again. "I saw the bodies... I don't know why, but I felt like I should and... Well..." Alex was stumbling over her words.

"What Alex?"

"I saw Darien just lying there, and something wasn't right. He wasn't Darien at all, he was..."

"Someone else?"

Alex looked down at the floor, then up again. "His eyes were silver."

"Yeah, I know." Claire replied.

Alex nodding in understanding, "Did he...?" She couldn't bring herself to finish the question.

"No."

Alex stood up and stretched for a moment. "I told the Official I would call him as soon as you woke up."

"Okay," Claire replied. However, before Alex could leave the room she said, "He saved my life."

"What?" Alex asked, not understanding what Claire had meant.

"Bobby had to pick between saving me and saving Darien." Her eyes started to water. "I was scared, I asked him not to leave me. I let Darien die." Now she was crying full force.

Alex walked back into the room, "Darien's wound was pretty bad. Hobbes couldn't have saved him even if he had tried."

"How did he die?"

"Hobbes?"Alex asked. Claire nodded. "Gun shot wound to the head."

"He killed himself?" Claire asked, understanding hitting her. "He thought I was dead."

"He had let his two best friends die." Alex replied, "He had nothing left to live for."

"That's not true." Claire replied. "There is you and Eberts."

"He was feeling so much grief I don't think he even knew what he was doing." Alex lied. The truth was, she and Hobbes had never been close. She had never even been nice to him. "Looking back at Claire yet again she asked, "So, what are you going to do?"

Claire looked at her with a quizzical look on her face for a second, then she answered. "There's this saying I once heard, The future belongs to those who live intensely in the present.' Well, that's what I'm going to do. That's what I think they would have wanted me to do. There's no point in living in the past and what happened, it can't be changed."

Alex gave a fake smile and then walked out of the room to call the Official. She didn't get very far before she slumped against a wall, slid down it and sat, wrapping her arms around her legs. She broke down and let the tears flow.

The End


End file.
